Background
While the majority of studies report that a raised serum α‐fetoprotein (AFP) level before operation is associated with a high risk of recurrence and death in patients who undergo ...hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), results are conflicting. The aim of this study was to assess the prognostic value of AFP.
Methods
Serum AFP levels were measured in patients with hepatitis‐associated HCC who underwent hepatectomy between 1995 and 2012. Kaplan–Meier and multivariable analyses were performed to identify risk factors for overall and disease‐free survival. Univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression was used to evaluate the predictive value of AFP. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated to identify the AFP level that had the highest accuracy in discriminating between survivors and non‐survivors.
Results
Some 376 patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)‐associated HCC were included in the study. The overall survival rate was 58·8 per cent in patients with an AFP level of 400 ng/ml or less compared with 40·4 per cent for those with a level exceeding 400 ng/ml (P = 0·001). AFP concentration above 400 ng/ml was an independent risk factor for shorter disease‐free and overall survival after surgery. ROC analysis indicated that the optimal cut‐off values for AFP varied for different subtypes of HCC. The sensitivity and specificity were lower with areas under the ROC curve of less than 0·600. An AFP level greater than 400 ng/ml was not sensitive enough to predict the prognosis in patients with an HCC diameter smaller than 3 cm.
Conclusion
A serum AFP level above 400 ng/ml predicts poor overall and recurrence‐free survival after hepatectomy in patients with HBV‐associated HCC. AFP is not a strong prognostic marker given its poor discriminatory power, with low sensitivity and specificity.
Not useful
The metabolic responses of cows undergo substantial changes during the transition from late pregnancy to early lactation. However, the molecular mechanisms associated with these changes in ...physiological metabolism have not been clearly elucidated. The objective of this study was to investigate metabolic changes in transition cows from the perspective of plasma metabolites. Plasma samples collected from 24 multiparous dairy cows on approximately d 21 prepartum and immediately postpartum were analyzed using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry in positive and negative ion modes. In conjunction with multidimensional statistical methods (principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis), differences in plasma metabolites were identified using the t-test and fold change analysis. Sixty-seven differential metabolites were identified consisting of AA, lipids, saccharides, and nucleotides. The levels of 32 plasma metabolites were significantly higher and those of 35 metabolites significantly lower after parturition than on d 21 prepartum. Pathway analysis indicated that the metabolites that increased from late pregnancy to early lactation were primarily involved in lipid metabolism and energy metabolism, whereas decreased metabolites were related to AA metabolism.
The Iso-Seq method of full-length cDNA sequencing is suitable to quantify differentially expressed genes (DEGs), transcripts (DETs) and transcript usage (DTU). However, the higher cost of Iso-Seq ...relative to RNA-seq has limited the comparison of both methods. Transcript abundance estimated by RNA-seq and deep Iso-Seq data for fetal liver from two cattle subspecies were compared to evaluate concordance. Inter-sample correlation of gene- and transcript-level abundance was higher within technology than between technologies. Identification of DEGs between the cattle subspecies depended on sequencing method with only 44 genes identified by both that included 6 novel genes annotated by Iso-Seq. There was a pronounced difference between Iso-Seq and RNA-seq results at transcript-level wherein Iso-Seq revealed several magnitudes more transcript abundance and usage differences between subspecies. Factors influencing DEG identification included size selection during Iso-Seq library preparation, average transcript abundance, multi-mapping of RNA-seq reads to the reference genome, and overlapping coordinates of genes. Some DEGs called by RNA-seq alone appear to be sequence duplication artifacts. Among the 44 DEGs identified by both technologies some play a role in immune system, thyroid function and cell growth. Iso-Seq revealed hidden transcriptional complexity in DEGs, DETs and DTU genes between cattle subspecies previously missed by RNA-seq.
Abstract We present optical photometry for the afterglow of GRB 221009A, in some respects the most extraordinary gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever observed. Good quality in the R -band light curve is ...obtained, covering 0.32–19.57 days since the Fermi-Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor trigger. We find that a weak bump emerges from the declining afterglow at t ≈ 11 days; a supernova (SN) may be responsible. We use a smooth broken power-law and 56 Ni model to fit the light curve. The best-fitting results reveal that the SN ejected a total mass of M ej = 3.70 M ⊙ , a 56 Ni mass of M Ni = 0.23 M ⊙ , and a kinetic energy of E SN , K = 2.35 × 10 52 erg . We also compare GRB 221009A with other GRB–SN events based on a GRB-associated SN sample and find that only SN 2003lw and SN 2011kl can be obviously revealed in the afterglow of GRB 221009A by setting these objects at its distance. This suggests that a supernova (SN 2022xiw) is possibly obscured by the brighter afterglow emission from GRB 221009A.
This study further evaluated the
and
anti-
activities and potential underlying mechanism of patchouli alcohol (PA), a tricyclic sesquiterpene. In the
assay, the capacities of PA to inhibit and kill
...were tested on three standard strains at different pH values and on 12 clinical isolates. The effects of PA on
adhesion (and its
,
, and
genes), motility (and its
and
genes), ultrastructure, and flagellation were investigated. Moreover, the
resistance to and postantibiotic effect (PAE) of PA were determined. Furthermore, the
effects of PA on
eradication and gastritis were examined. Results showed that MICs of PA against three standard strains (pH 5.3 to 9) and 12 clinical isolates were 25 to 75 and 12.5 to 50 μg/ml, respectively. The killing kinetics of PA were time and concentration dependent, and its minimal bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) were 25 to 75 μg/ml. In addition,
adhesion, motility, ultrastructure, and flagellation were significantly suppressed. PA also remarkably inhibited the expression of adhesion genes (
and
) and motility genes (
and
). Furthermore, PA treatment caused a longer PAE and less bacterial resistance than clarithromycin and metronidazole. The
study showed that PA can effectively eradicate
, inhibit gastritis, and suppress the expression of inflammatory mediators (COX-2, interleukin 1β, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and inducible nitric oxide synthase iNOS). In conclusion, PA can efficiently kill
, interfere with its infection process, and attenuate gastritis with less bacterial resistance, making it a potential candidate for new drug development.
To improve the corrosion resistance of the Ti-6Al-4V alloy treated by micro-arc oxidation (MAO), molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) particles were added into the electrolyte and a composite oxide coating ...was formed with different MoS2 contents on the surface of Ti-6Al-4V alloy. A scanning electron microscope and a handheld roughness meter were used to analyze the surface morphology and roughness of the coating, and the corrosion performance of the MAO-treated Ti-6Al-4V alloy was analyzed by galvanic corrosion meter and electrochemical workstation. The results show that MoS2 can be successfully incorperated into the coating and block the micropores during the process of micro-arc oxidation. Electrochemical experiments showed that the coating has a higher resistance and a lower corrosion rate, while in the galvanic experiment, the galvanic potential and galvanic current of the coating also decreased. Under the experimental conditions, the addition of MoS2 can significantly improve the corrosion resistance of the MAO coating, and the best corrosion resistance is obtained when the addition amount is 4g/L, this will expand the marine applications of Ti-6Al-4V alloy.
•Porous films were grown on marine Ti-6Al-4V alloys by micro-arc oxidation.•MoS2 was wrapped by molten metal into the micro-arc oxidation coating.•The basic composition of the film was composed by anatase, rutile TiO2 and a small amount of SiO2.•The addition of MoS2 effectively improved the corrosion resistance of the coating.
We report results on the searches of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with sub-GeV masses (mχ) via WIMP-nucleus spin-independent scattering with Migdal effect incorporated. Analysis on ...time-integrated (TI) and annual modulation (AM) effects on CDEX-1B data are performed, with 737.1 kg day exposure and 160 eVee threshold for TI analysis, and 1107.5 kg day exposure and 250 eVee threshold for AM analysis. The sensitive windows in mχ are expanded by an order of magnitude to lower DM masses with Migdal effect incorporated. New limits on σχNSI at 90% confidence level are derived as 2×10−32∼7×10−35 cm2 for TI analysis at mχ∼50–180 MeV/c2, and 3×10−32∼9×10−38 cm2 for AM analysis at mχ∼75 MeV/c2–3.0 GeV/c2.
We report the first results of a light weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) search from the CDEX-10 experiment with a 10 kg germanium detector array immersed in liquid nitrogen at the China ...Jinping Underground Laboratory with a physics data size of 102.8 kg day. At an analysis threshold of 160 eVee, improved limits of 8×10^{-42} and 3×10^{-36} cm^{2} at a 90% confidence level on spin-independent and spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon cross sections, respectively, at a WIMP mass (m_{χ}) of 5 GeV/c^{2} are achieved. The lower reach of m_{χ} is extended to 2 GeV/c^{2}.
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